A BANK that received billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was last night criticised for refusing to continue to provide finance for a project that would bring more than 1,000 jobs to the region, The Northern Echo can reveal.

It also emerged that the Tees Alliance Group (TAG), which was awarded the £300m contract to build the oil and gas platform for global offshore company SeaDragon, is considering legal action to ensure the work remains in the North-East.

Stockton North MP Frank Cook called for Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to step in to help preserve vital jobs and investment into the region.

SeaDragon said that Lloyds TSB – which is 43.4 per cent owned by the taxpayer after a £13bn bail-out – was no longer convinced about the viability of the SeaDragon 1 project being constructed in the region, with work to be moved from the Haverton Hill shipyard, in Billingham, Teesside, to Singapore.

The Northern Echo understands that more than 4,000 tonnes of SeaDragon 1 has been completed. The 200 workers at the site were yesterday warned of possible redundancy.

Last night, TAG and Mr Cook hit out at Cayman Islands- based SeaDragon for reneging on its agreement.

SeaDragon declined to comment last night.

Mr Cook, who campaigned for SeaDragon 1 to be built on Teesside, slammed Lloyds TSB. He said: “The facts are that this massive contract – and with it over a thousand jobs for local people – could be lost because of lack of support from a bank in which billions of pounds of public money – money provided by my constituents and every other British taxpayer – are being invested.”

David Eason, chairman of TAG, denied suggestions the group did not have the capacity to complete the project.

He said: “We can confirm that SeaDragon are attempting to terminate their agreement with us.”

Lloyds TSB was unavailable for comment last night.